<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Code Red by Peer_Parker</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28574391">Code Red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peer_Parker/pseuds/Peer_Parker'>Peer_Parker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Panic Attacks, Periods, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trans Peter Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:35:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28574391</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peer_Parker/pseuds/Peer_Parker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter gets his first period while working in the lab with Tony.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>NOT STARKER, Peter Parker &amp; Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>286</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Code Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For the anon on tumblr! Who requested:</p><p>"I can't find any good fics like this. I'm not sure if you would be down for writing it (that's totally fine) but I have a prompt, where trans Peter gets his first period while working in the lab with Tony."</p><p> Happy to be getting back into writing. </p><p>Of course, heed the tags. Trigger warning for panic attacks and periods. The whole fic is sort've set in the present, thinking about the past while having a panic attack so... heed that, read safe. Also, I've done my research for this fic, but if anything I've written is insensitive, please, let me know! I'll change it readily. </p><p>Happy reading!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was meant to be a good day.</p><p>Of course, Fridays were always the best days. They consisted of his favourite classes, many of which he shared with either Ned or MJ (or both of them, for his last class of the day). May had to work the night, which was a bummer, but it also meant that his lab afternoon with Tony was changed into a sleepover as well.</p><p>(It wasn’t like he needed babysitting—he was 16 after all—but apparently Aunt May didn’t trust him alone in the apartment. It’d only been one late night mugging turned wrong turned stabbing that had sent her towards that opinion, which he really thought was unfa—</p><p>
  <em>Okay, he didn’t really trust himself alone either.)</em>
</p><p>Peter wasn’t going to complain about spending more time with Tony. The man who built his suit/turned mentor, had practically become his father figure at this point. Who would know Tony Stark, the genius, billionaire, ex-playboy, and philanthropist could make dad jokes and be the mother hen of a teenage boy? Well, Peter knew of course if you were being pedantic about things. And Happy. Pepper. Rhodey. May. Okay, just a fair few people in their inner circle. If it got out to the press, it’d probably be twisted into some story of a young love affair 16 years ago, spawning a child who Tony now happens to mentor.</p><p>He shook his head. His mind was rambling, trying to distract him from the current situation. Where was he—right. He was in Tony Stark’s penthouse. In the bathroom, to be specific. Curled up against the side of the bathtub, trying desperately to pull air into his uncooperative lungs—</p><p>Think of something else, he thought desperately.</p><p>The afternoon. After leaving school, he’d almost forgotten that Happy was picking him up to drive him to the Tower and was halfway to the alleyway where he usually changed into his Spider-Man suit before swinging across the city, when he remembered. That resulted in him scurrying back to the car with a breathless apology to Happy.</p><p>His mind had been consumed with excited thoughts about the Tower and what they’d do together. They’d never had a sleepover before. Well, okay, maybe spending time with his mentor and sleeping over in said Tower didn’t necessarily constitute a sleepover, per se, more like a professional staying over at—he laughed. It was a sleepover.</p><p>He’d only had sleepovers before with Ned. Those tended to be a whirlwind of activity, of playing games till the early hours of the morning with his friend whilst eating sugary snacks and feeling tired but not regretting it in the morning.</p><p>A sleepover with Tony sounded… different. Not in a bad way. Just, different. He supposed the dynamic would be different with an adult. Sometimes he and May would stay up late on weekends when she didn’t have to be at work the next day. They usually watched movies together on the couch and, after attempting to make some food, ordered in takeout.</p><p>Tony felt different. He probably watched movies, but Peter suspected they’d be more of the action-variety. He didn’t seem so much like a man for sitting down and doing nothing for a while, however. They usually spent lab afternoons—well, in the lab. Of course, they’d spent that Friday afternoon tinkering away with a new prototype of the spider suit, one with more protection against being stabbed (it was one time! Or two…) and more nifty features.</p><p>Time had flown by. After the lab, they’d….</p><p>Peter snapped back to the present with a stifled sob. His arms wrapped around his middle and he glanced to the door, checking once again that it was locked. He was alone. Good. That… that was good, right? He didn’t want Tony to come. No. He wasn’t hurt. This was different. This was…</p><p>He shook his head. Back to the past. Think about something else.</p><p>Right. After the lab, they’d gone up to the penthouse floor to get some dinner. Surprisingly, Tony didn’t bring it back to the lab. Instead, he showed Peter into his living room and let him pick a movie to watch. Of course, he’d been right about the man’s taste in movies.</p><p>“It’s weird.” Peter had commented, partway through the movie.</p><p>Tony had turned to look at him, pausing the screen, one brow quirked in confusion. “Are you subtly dissing my cooking, kid?”</p><p>“No, no,” Peter had shook his head, laughing, “I mean the movie. No—I like it, don’t turn it off. I mean… it’s a superhero movie. It’s just- you’re a superhero.”</p><p>“Astute observation. Now I know why I picked you.”</p><p>Peter had feigned hurt. “No, I mean… you’re a superhero and you’re watching a superhero movie. It’s just- funny, I guess. Since you can go out and do this stuff.”</p><p>“You might have forgotten this, spandex, but so are you. And we’re certainly much better, being the real deal. Personally, I enjoy critiquing these sorts of things. And you can’t deny that kid,” he’d gestured to the screen, “has a good costume. I bet he had a Tony Stark design one for him too.”</p><p>Peter had rolled his eyes. After that, they’d gone back to watching the movie. Tony hadn’t seemed like the guy to sit still for long, but he’d seemed pretty content in the moment, as they’d sat together watching the action on the screen and ate home-cooked risotto.</p><p>It hadn’t felt like long before the credits rolled. Tony had suggested going back to the lab for a bit before bed, and Peter had agreed readily. Aunt May always had him go to bed at a reasonable time (even when he went out as Spider-Man, the nerve of it) where, on the other hand, his mentor seemed more of a night owl like him, so perhaps he could stretch their lab evening session into a lab night session…</p><p>And then it all came crashing down. Lab evening had been fun. It was just about to hit night when the same dull dragging pain had hit his abdomen, just as it had a few times previously that same day. Peter had been hoping he wasn’t coming down with some stomach bug, or something.</p><p>He’d excused himself to the bathroom, and… well, he kinda wished it was a bug, in a weird way. He wasn’t some weirdo who really wanted to be ill or anything, but he also… well…</p><p>Blood. That was one way to word it. It… he knew this was going to come someday. He was a rather late bloomer and, well… he knew his first period was going to come and bite him in the ass at some point.</p><p>Peter scrubbed a hand over his face, suddenly not wanting to think anymore about the day because he’d reached the point in time he was currently at. He’d enjoyed his time with Tony, but he really wished he were with May right now. She understood everything and he knew she’d already gotten sanitary products and such for him, but had hidden them away so he didn’t have to think about it constantly. May was kind like that.</p><p>Tony… well, he was kind too. But he was different. Just like he’d been thinking before. Tony was different. He was a parental figure but he—well, Peter hadn’t grown up with him. He didn’t know everything there was about the man- this was his first time staying over, for crying out loud. He was open-minded, but…</p><p>It was always a fear in Peter’s mind. Not something constantly there, just a worry that sprung up whenever this specific situation happened. Tony didn’t know that he was trans. To be honest, he didn’t really mind. He was who was he was. People knowing didn’t really bother him either, unless it was this moment in time when he knew he’d have to let the man know in order to have his help, and, well… he was simply scared of the what-ifs, of the small possibilities—would the man see him differently? He knew Mr Stark wasn’t <em>one of those people</em>, but the thing he feared the most was things between them changing.</p><p>Maybe he could figure something else out. He could find some excuse, get away, maybe May could offer advice but—no, his phone was in the other room, he couldn’t call her—he pressed a hand against his chest, willing himself to breathe, to <em>god damnit just breathe—</em></p><p>A knock sounded sharply at the door. He started, hitting against the cold edge of the bathtub.</p><p>“Peter? You, uh, alright in there, buddy? If something’s wrong, just let me know… just concerned about how long you’ve been in there. I know you’re a teenager but…”</p><p>It could’ve been easy. He could’ve just sat there in silence, let the man go away, and give himself longer to think about an escape plan. But something in him caused him to look up from the ground, towards the door, and utter,</p><p>“Tony, I… please… I need help.”</p><p>The man, understandably, went into panic mode at those vague, unsuspecting words. “Oh my gosh—what’s wrong? Did you fall? Not down the toilet—I mean fall over. Are you hurt?”</p><p>“No! No,” he took a breath, “I’m fine. Well, I… no, I just need help.” He found it in himself to push to his feet, walking slowly towards the door. Maybe he didn’t have to do this by himself. Maybe, just maybe, Tony might…</p><p>When he unlocked the bathroom door, he startled to see that the man was standing right outside. But that turned out to be a good thing, a blessing, as he felt his legs were still weak after his panic attack and he stumbled. Tony caught him, of course, and, instead of barraging him with questions, he brought an arm around him.</p><p>Somewhere, in a distant corner of his mind, Peter realised this was the first time they’d hugged. Properly, of course. Not a fumbling misunderstanding about opening a car door or anything of the sort. It was warm, genuine, and managed to calm his stuttering breaths and the racing of his heart.</p><p>After a few minutes, he pulled away, calmer, glancing up briefly to Tony’s eyes. They were only full of concern, not judgement. He found it almost easy to say, “Uh, thanks. I just need help with—well, I have my period. My first one and I just need some… things. It’s fine if you don’t but—”</p><p>Of course, he should have known, from Tony’s usual chill attitude (other than when he panicked the man with life-or-death situations) that everything would be okay.</p><p>“Pepper probably has some we could borrow. We could also raid her chocolate stash…” A pause. He wondered if this would turn into some long, interrogating conversation that he really didn’t feel like right now. But instead, Tony finished by tapping his nose and leaning in, saying in a quieter tone, as if the aforementioned woman could hear them, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”</p><p>He chuckled. It was a little choked, but it was real. Tony was different to May. But he was a good kind of different. May talked about his feelings and helped him with problems and watched cheesy movies with him with takeout. Tony cooked and watched loud action movies and raided Pepper’s chocolate supply with him. Best of all, he didn’t change, and he didn’t judge.</p><p>Maybe it was a good day after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. I aspire to get to the other prompts I've been sent on tumblr, sorry for not doing them in order xD This is just the one that I had to write immediately this morning before I can even think about other ideas lmao. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment below if you enjoyed; let me know what you thought and feel free to send me any prompts you want me to write.</p><p>Or, alternatively, I'm up to chat or receive prompts on my tumblr: @peer-parker</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>